How sound healing can help children to chill, relax, and most importantly, sleep!
Pause for a moment. Before reading on, take a moment to close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. How many can you hear? How many of them were you unaware of until just now?
Sound is everywhere, all the time. It sets the tone for our mood each day, much like a backing track to a film. This is because everything has a vibrational frequency, including ourselves. When we practice sound healing, we use these tonal frequencies to re-balance our bodies and minds.
To help us understand why sound healing is so powerful, we asked Jasmin to explain the science behind this magical process.
What is Sound Healing?
“Sound healing has been around since the beginning of time,” explains Jasmin. “We have always used sound to heal in various ways, to celebrate, in ceremonies and to communicate.” When we practice sound healing, it is called a sound bath. Sessions involve lying down in a comfortable position and ‘bathing,’ in meditative sounds created by different instruments, including crystal bowls, gongs, tuning forks, chimes, drums, the voice and many more.
Sound baths are a powerful healing modality because sound travels extremely well through liquid, and the human body is made up of 60-70% water. As Jasmin explains, “the various sounds which hold healing frequencies, vibrations and energies start to move through the water within us, helping to liberate any energy which is stuck.”
In doing so, we can take in healing frequencies that “support every layer of our being, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.” This means that we can access deeper states of rest, as “sound moves us, literally moves us inside and out.”
How do sound baths work for children?
Children naturally have shorter attention spans so lying still for 30-minutes might not appeal to them during waking hours. With this in mind, Jasmin creates super-interactive sessions for the children to participate in. “I start off by explaining what a sound meditation is, I then play different sounds and depending on the size of the group, I then try to get them involved in some way, whether by utilising their own voice or playing some of the instruments themselves.”
This part of the process is key when supporting children in this way, because it helps our mindful minis feel safe and comfortable. It also helps them fully understand what will happen when they are asked to lay down for an extended period of time. However, Jasmin notes that the process is not dogmatic, and kids are always welcome to “move around and receive the sound meditation that best suits them. Some children close their eyes, some like to watch.”
Sound baths are just as effective when they don’t happen in person, and children can listen to audio recordings of sessions, helping them to decompress from a day at school, or sending them off to sleep at bedtime.
How Does Sound Healing Work?
For Jasmin, sound healing “combines the power of the practitioner’s intention with the resonance, entrainment and healing vibrations of live sounds, helping participants receive what they need at that time. This might be focus, or deep rest.” Resonance? Entrainment? Let’s break it down:
Resonance
Every object is vibrating, and the rate at which it vibrates is known as its resonant frequency. When we are run down, certain frequencies can become ‘out of tune.’ With sound therapy, the body is re-tuned to promote healing and health.
Entrainment
Entrainment is a law of physics that explains how rhythmic patterns work. It naturally leads us to fall into the same rhythm; for instance, entrainment occurs when we hear music and begin to tap our feet. We entrain brainwaves to a slower rhythm during a sound bath which leads to a deep state of relaxation.
Healing Vibrations
In scientific terms, sound is a vibration that special cells in our ears and skin turn into electrical signals. These signals are then sent to our brain via the auditory nerve and the spinal cord. During a sound bath, practitioners will use special vibrations to stimulate brainwave frequencies associated with positive wellbeing.
When we combine these elements with the intention (usually to create a state of harmony), powerful changes can occur. Jasmin explained “sound baths will clear that which no longer serves us, so that we can feel more balanced.” Studies affirm her insight, as sound therapy has been shown to decrease anxiety, reduce physical pain and improve sleep, to name just a few.
How Do Sound Baths Benefit Children?
Firstly, children have an extra-special relationship with sound. Not only can kids hear higher frequencies, but they haven’t yet taken on inhibitions which weigh them down; just think of how a child naturally moves to the rhythm when they hear a song, with no fear of judgement.
Sound baths are great for kids because they teach them how to receive and rest. “This will support their life journey and help them feel a more profound sense of belonging to the world.” Jasmin shared. “No matter what is going on in their lives, sound is a haven and place to express themselves fully.”
Sound meditation also allows children to go inwards and explore their imagination. In fact, through meditation, children learn that it is okay to feel whatever they feel. As a result, sound baths can help build self-esteem, strengthen self-acceptance and create a sense of empowerment.
We are our own Healers.
But more than this, as Jasmin beautifully phrases it, “The practices I use on myself, and my clients help us accept ourselves in the present moment. We are our own healers. To heal is to feel whole no matter what we are going through, love and accept ourselves in the present moment, and to hold space for what we need at that time.”
Some of us come to this realisation only after many years of trying to find health and happiness outside of ourselves. It is often in our adulthood that we realise self-love comes from within. But imagine if we had been taught this early on and knew it from the get-go? That is one of our core values at Happy Marlo and perhaps the most important benefit of sound healing for kids.
Sound baths are an integral part of Happy Marlo’s superpower-wellbeing toolkit, so remember to keep an eye out for our in-person Sound-Magic-Meditation events, and digital sessions here on our website!